Preseason Week 2 - 2014: Thoughts after watching the game...

I have to admit I only really watched it once...from the stadium. I tried to watch it again but passed into a sunburnt enduced coma that I'm still not yet recovered from. Forgive me if I miss a few things as I haven't had that much of a chance to really go over the game on my DVR outside of a few plays here and there.

1) Kap: Just fine thank you. Deep shot to Lloyd should have been a TD. Not sure if Lloyd lost it in the sun or what. Looks quick, nimble, and decisive. Checked down to a back on a few occasions for good gains. Was off target a bit and had some dropped....but all in all not much to complain about.

2) Gabbert: ...........................................

3) Dial: From what I saw, continues to impress. A presence in there that needs to be accounted for. Huge and mobile. Works hard. I'd like to see him sub in from time to time for Jerod-Eddie and Dobbs just to see how he fares with the "first team" on D.

4) Carradine: Same deal. He seems to get pushed past the play sometimes and gets caught in the wash....but from time to time he really flashes something. The should have been sack was a good example.

5) Borland: Yeah...he free-lanced again and left Dahl exposed in coverage for the TD, but he also made several good plays on D. Really knifed in on a few occasions like a bowling ball to take down ball carriers. Far more impressed with him after this game than I was after the last one.

6) Ward: Seems to be going through what most DBs go through when first playing in the NFL. He's getting his lunch handed to him in coverage. It happens. He's learning. Where I've seen him really impress tho is in run support and just making tackles. A guy may make a catch on him, but that guy goes down. No RAC. After the Carradine "sack", it was Ward that came up and made the play to make sure the 3rd down didn't get converted. He's not quite ready for primetime, but I see what the team saw when they drafted him.

7) Hampton: Please cut him. Soon. I'm not going to claim that he had great running lanes or that the line was helping him all that much, but it just seems that the guy is constantly "running to darkness". I'm liking Smith more than Hampton right now. Please LaMichael, get healthy. No more Jewel Hampton.

8) Dawson: Preseason for Kickers too. :)

9) Levi's Stadium: I'm already in love with the place. Maybe its just my seats I love or maybe I've just been fallowing the process for so long that the fact that I was sitting in ANY new stadium would elicit this reaction...but I'm in love with the place. I love my little alcove with food and bathrooms about 30 feet away. I love that I ran to the bathroom during a TV timeout and was in my seat before play resumed. I love that I was able to get food with no line halfway through the game (tho there is certainly a training issue there...I ordered a cheeseburger, Hot Dog, Diet Pepsi and a water and the laty looked at me like I was speaking Portuguese. That will improve...but pretty clear most of those peeps were really, really new.

Bottom Line tho....GREAT new building to enjoy for the next few decades.

10) Preseason in general: I really didn't spend much time here after the game yesterday because I already knew what was gonna happen. I knew the sky was falling. I knew we'd be lucky to win a game this year, etc, etc. Same stuff happens every year...people WAY, WAY overreact one way or the other in the preseason, and the lesson here is that you learn NOTHING about team success or failure in preseason. You might learn about individual players in certain scenarios, but NOTHING can be drawn from a final score.

Instead of beating my head against a wall calming 49er fans down, I was on Seahawks.net forums because that was a lot more fun. While there are some in there who are much more pragmatic and are just poking fun, there are really 'hawk fans in there that think these preseason games mean something. They really think the Niners are about to completely implode.

Originally posted by 9moon:
I say we still look like a mess out there...

I'm also afraid that other team has learned to takeaway Kap's initial target and is forcing him to go his progression, which still is his weakness..

Yes on the first note...but mostly the reserves. Seemed to be mental mistakes more than anything and QBs that are simply incompetent.

As for Kap...no clue what you are talking about.

He checked it down to a back a few times, made several good throws and had some drops. In fact I think the worst throw of the day was one where he scrambled away and missed Lloyd or Johnson...not sure which he was targeting. I didn't see him force a pass (Crab and Johnson were open) and I didn't see him running beyond the LOS. In fact the only time he tucked and run was when he eluded an unblocked defender and nearly made something of it.

Originally posted by lazy:
thoughts on Culliver? He look dazed and confused yesterday.

Tough to say because I haven't watched it again and I wasn't focusing on him, but its Peyton Manning out there and they were running those drag patterns all day. I saw Borland and Ward break down in coverage on different plays, but didn't see anything jump out to me on Culliver. They did seem to target him a few times back to back on these quick passes outside...perhaps because he was playing off?

I'm also afraid that other team has learned to takeaway Kap's initial target and is forcing him to go his progression, which still is his weakness..

As for Kap...no clue what you are talking about.

No kidding. Just a strange take. What I saw was a QB who is clearly learning to stay in the pocket, go through multiple reads and decisively take the outlet receiver if nothing is there. He even had a play where he almost followed his impulse to try to force it in and then, at the last second, thought better of it and fired one over to the outlet receiver in the flat.

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
kap was a little too hyped up it seems. No need for the 100mph fastballs.

Yeah...but he's got a lot of those. The WRs are going to have to adjust. Crab usually doesn't have a problem.

Stevie might need to work on it but in his defense, it looked like it would have been a tough catch.

It's always the same - Elway, Farvre, Rodgers; all the QB's who get a reputation for "crosses" - receivers take pride in being targets for these guys. Nobody really wants these QB's to throw slower passes because the fastballs are a huge advantage against NFL secondaries. They split the safeties. And when he rifles it out to an outlet receiver in the flat, that player has that much more time to turn and run. Kaepernick is throwing some touch passes when he can and Sunday, he threw a long pass that was a "rainbow" as opposed to a "frozen rope." He can make all the throws.

Since we're gonna see Denver in the regular season, I can understand why there was no game planning this time around.

Very vanilla on offense and defense.

Harbs and his coaching staff showed Denver nothing that might help them in the future.

Still made it tough to watch at times, and doesn't excuse the poor QBinq by the back ups. Actually, until he threw the pick, I thought Gabbert was taking a step forward, getting his overthows under control.

Kap's in his 4th year, you expect him to make the decisions that you all agreed and saw from him in the game.. but the mere fact is that, progression is still his WEAKNESS... the pass he threw to Crab, that simple slant, it was obvious that he's covered, but Kap just has to throw to it to him and believe in his arm just a bit too much..

Remember, we lost SB to the Ravens because Kap audibled twice from a running play into a passing play, both intended to Crabb..

We also lost the NFC championship because of the ill advised pass he threw, again, to Crabb.. and even admitted after the game that he would take the play over and over each time he sees Crabb one on one..

those two plays alone tells you that once his mind is made up, that he will force the issue.

He could have pulled back and throw the simple hook on VD on the left side instead of trying to hit Crab for a mere 5 yard gain on that slant..

Good analysis as usual Marvin, but I have a question. Is it just preseason or does the back seven LB/Secondary look a mess right now? I know it's mostly backups, but a combination of Brock, Culliver, with Aldon Smith suspended, and injured Navarro Bowman does concern. There doesn't look like any chemistry out there. Kap looks like he's coming along fine with his progressions.

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